The Academy
by Party in the Afterlife
Summary: School. A place filled with dangerous enemie: Azula, insane challenges: Bumi’s Math Class, constant distractions: the opposite gender and endless torture: dance lessons.
1. First Impressions

PitA: Hello everyone!

Ida: Hey.

PitA: So this is our Avatar story, co-authored by me Party in the Afterlife and my best freind, Ida Cippo! Care to do the honors Ida?

Ida: We don't own Avatar The Last Airbender

* * *

The First Impression

The two black wooden doors were open and were swinging softly in the wind. They were held in place by a large arch made of stone, which stood over them imposingly. Above it, on the top, stood a statue of the Avatar Rokku in his traditional Firebender clothes, his hands stretched out in blessing and greeting to all the newcomers.

Behind him was the green roof that stood out against the sky. It was in the traditional shape, square with the sides swinging out.

A glance inside the house through the doors showed a large hall and another pair of wooden doors, equally open which lead to a wooden terrace. A few steps closer showed that this was a square yard, the building continuing at the sides.

In the centre of the court stood a statue, this time of Avatar Kyoshi in all her might, clothed in her warrior outfit, arms swinging in a powerful attack.

The doors on the sides of the building were marked with different symbols, fire, earth, water, air, but other too, like maths symbols, a map of the nations, physics equations, art tools and others. Each corner had an Avatar statue in it, representing the endless cycles.

These were the classrooms, because this building was the school of the Western Dragon Iroh the bending school for all elements, The Elite Western Dragon International Intercultural Element Bending Academy, usually just called the Academy. It was a school for People of great talent, bending or non-bending, or of great nobility. People of any Nation.

This probably explained the low number of new students waiting in front Elite Western Dragon and son on Academy. There was a bald boy in air-monk cloths, a blind girl, who had been dropped of by fretting parents, a girl with two long braids that stuck of the side of her head and two skulking, male, sandbender twins in gangster rapper outfits.

The students had been told to wait in front of the main entrance, a guide would come and show them around the school before their first…err…lessons.

All around them their soon-to-be schoolmates were streaming into the building when a dark cloud sidled up to the group. They jumped.

It was not, in fact, a cloud. When you looked closer you could see a tall, slim, fifteen year old girl, all dressed in black with long black hair, pale skin and depressing make-up.

"I'm Mai," the girl said surveying the new students without marked interest, "I'm giving you the tour. All ready?"

"Yeah," the blind girl said, oblivious to Mai's evil emo powers. Most likely because she couldn't see her. Or maybe she was just brave. Who knew?

Mai started walking towards the black double doors that marked the entrance of the school. The students followed her like a herd of intimidated sheep. Well, they were intimidated.

They walked out onto the terrace. It was roofed so that the students could walk along it to get to their classes even in the rain.

"The buildings along this side," Mai stated, bored, "are the teachers lounges, the secretaries and the office of headmaster Iroh. You'll come back here after the tour to pick up you're schedules.

She walked forward into the yard. Students were milling all around it yet all appeared to be avoiding the Statue of Avatar Kyoshi. Mai, however, was filled with no such hesitation and moved towards it boldly. She stopped close to the statue, beside which a brown haired girl in jeans and a green top was holding a megaphone. Beside her a boy in blue clothes with a brown ponytail stood handing out leaflets.

"What you see here," Mai began in a flat, monotone voice, "is a statue of the great and so on Avatar Kyoshi. Standing beside her is Suki, the political activist, encouraging everyone to come to today's protest march. She is flanked by Sokka, who, whenever he needs a date, is also a political activist."

As they walked past the trio all the new students had leaflets thrust into their hands. Mai was curiously missed out.

"Why didn't they give you a leaflet?" the monk-boy asked, staring at the paper in his hands. 'Come today!' it read 'Protest against Paragraph 987.2…' he stopped reading. It was too boring.

Mai smiled for the first time. Everyone in vicinity shivered and averted their gaze.

"Their afraid I'll scare all their protestors away," Mai explained, " Now, the right side of the building is devoted to training rooms. They are constantly under construction due to over enthusiastic bending or fighting…"

"Hey Goth-Princess," a tall boy with a mop of brown hair and a cocky grin sauntered up and laid his arm around Mai's neck, "haven't seen you in a while." He leaned forward to give her a kiss on the cheek but Mai put up her hand and blocked the attempt.

"The idiot with his arm around my neck," she stated in her bored-tour-guide-voice, "is the captain of the baseball team and supposedly hottest guy of the school, Jet. He will let go of me in an instant because two steps behind us the captain of the soccer team, second-hottest guy of the school and Jet's most hated rival, Zuko, is talking to the captain of the cheerleading squad and Jet's newest girlfriend, Ty Lee.

Jet let go of Mai and whipped around. As Mai had said, standing behind him was a short, pretty, slender girl in a purple and blue cheerleader outfit. She was talking to a tall, pale boy with shaggy black hair and a scar across his left eye. Jet stomped over to them, put his arm around Ty Lee and spat something at Zuko who immediately responded and within seconds a hot diss-battle was going on, whose disses were completely random.

"You're so stupid Zuko, you trip over the cord of a cordless phone!"

"Well couldn't hit water if you fell out of a boat, Jet!"

"You're so fat I tried to drive around you and ran out of gas!"

"You're so short you have to get on a ladder to pick up a ten-cent piece!"

"The rooms at the back of the building," Mai ploughed on in her tour. Her herd ignored her, completely fascinated by the battle, "are devoted to the Library, as well as Etiquette and Mediation classrooms. These are the favourite haunts of the Guru."

"Whose the Guru?" one of the herd asked timidly, "Does he have a name?"

"The Guru is simply called the Guru," Mai stated, "He is a Vegan, believes in Feng-Shui, and will teach you about you're Chi, the connections of the Elements and which Chakra you're feelings stem from if you are stupid enough to listen in his lessons.

"Now the left side of the building is devoted to classrooms where you will learn about Math, Physics, Art, History and Politics."

Then the main door of the building was flung open and a girl of middle height with dark hair and piercing eyes stopped in. She was followed by a troop of people. When she saw Mai she immediately changed her course, heading straight for her. Everyone who was in the way scrambled to get out of it.

"New students?" she asked when she reached Mai. The guide nodded. "Well be sure to teach them the rules," she snapped turning around and heading off again. The horde, which had hovered a few meters away, took up its course again.

"That was Azula," Mai stated when the girl was out of earshot, "princess of the school. I will explain the rules to you now, remember them if you want to live. Rule 1: Never stand in Azula's way. You may follow her around and worship the ground she walks on. Rule 2: Don't talk to Azula unless she talks to you. Rule 3: Don't talk to anyone Azula hates or she will hate you too."

"And who does Azula hate?" the blind girl asked brashly.

"Oh, everyone," Mai responded, looking almost cheerful as she started walking again. They crossed the yard and were moving towards the double doors on the other side of the building when a pretty girl with long brown hair wearing jeans and a blue top walked by.

"N-errrrrrrrrrrd," Mai said to her as she came by them. To her group she explained, "This is Katara the Nerd of the school. She even takes extra healing classes when everyone has gone home."

"Goooooooooth" Katara replied cheerfully to Mai then waved at someone behind the group, "Hello Haru!"

The others turned around to see whom she was talking to but there appeared to be no one.

"Haru, the Invisible Man," Mai intoned, "a student who, when not bending, can only be seen by Katara and the teachers. There have been some doubts that he exists or, if he does, is a ghost of someone who died of boredom during a lesson."

Katara waved at the group and walked on as Mai led them through the back doors of the school. They came to an open field in which a lot of picnic tables stood. Over to the Side was a small school building and behind the tables were the sports fields and swimming pool.

"This is the lunch area," Mai droned, "Lunch is cooked by two different students every week. It is supposed to teach us responsibility or something. The building over there is the kitchen. I would advise you to check the plan on the door. You'll soon learn in which weeks it's better to bring your own lunch."

She smiled nastily, then continued, "the sports fields are over there. All sports are student organized, check with the captains of each team if you can join…and that is the end of the tour. Please go to Headmaster Iroh's office now. You will receive tea, The Welcoming Speech and your schedules. I have a lesson to attend."

With that the girl swept around and marched back into the building. Before she went through the door she turned around one more time.

"Oh yeah, welcome to the Academy."

The herd blinked.

* * *

PitA: So that was it. The couples are in no way fixed so review...

Ida: ...and send us our three favourite couples and we'll see what we can do about it!


	2. Teachers

Chapter 2 : 11 PM,

The herd was all standing in front of a high wooden door. A sign, nailed in the middle of it said: 'Headmaster'. No one really dared to go and knock. It was, after all, the Dragon of the West they would be facing.

Finally the blind girl, feeling the idiocy of waiting before a closed door, stepped forward and knocked firmly three times before stepping back. They heard the sound of porcelain crashing to the floor and somebody coughing, before a voice shouted "Come in."

Wondering if they would be held responsible for the broken objects, the monk boy and the two twins opened the door carefully and slowly, trying to catch a glimpse of the room.

"Come on! Tea is ready and waiting for you." The booming voice called again. Deciding that, aside from the tea being poisoned, there was no risk in going inside, the herd shyly stepped into the office.

Apart from the blind girl who marched in boldly; she seemed to be immune to such things. Maybe because she was blind, the monk boy wondered and she went up till the front of the table in the middle of the room.

Its appearance and its owner were shocking for the others who stood there their eyes falling out and their mouths gaping. Headmaster was seated on the floor, in the traditional welcoming pose, a big grin on his face. His face was warm and friendly but his eyes had teasing but serious expression. On the table in front of him were cups and a fuming teapot.

"Welcome students." Iroh greeted them, waving his hand indicating they should sit down opposite to him on the floor. They all nodded back in greeting, most still trying to sort out their thoughts about the fact that the man sitting there with the huge smile was really the world know and feared general.

"Please help yourself, the tea is getting cold." While speaking Iroh had already filled five cups and was pushing them towards the stunned students. The monk boy reached out for one of the cups and found the tea burning.

"So," Iroh marked a pause, looking at them intensely "You are the new students. Please tell if I say your names right. First, Toph Bei Fong?"

"What? Tough?" the twin sand bender said in unison, their brows furrowed.

"No," the blind girl hissed "Toph."

"Right, tough."

"It's Toph. T-O-P-H!" Stepping on the floor Toph, as this was her name, accompanied each letter with a kick, which in combination of her earth bender skills send the boys sailing through the room, as earth blocks came through the ground (and the floor of the room) answering her call. At the same time somebody knocked on the door.

"Enter," Iroh called with a chagrin look for his wooden floor, prior to turning back to the others "First rule: No bending in the school building unless in the bending rooms and always with a teacher."

The door opened and a man in his early fifties entered. His was long and white, falling over his shoulders.

"Iroh, I came for-" He stopped in middle of his sentence and turned his head back to the corridor. Everyone heard the footsteps of a person running. In one smooth movement of the hand, the master brought the tea out of the cups and used it to freeze the ground. A surprised scream was distinctive before the sound of someone crashing into wood, probably the wall in this case.

"No running in the corridor." The man yelled over his shoulder and closed the door again, after returning the tea back to their cups. The students moved away from them, not even thinking of touching them again.

"As I was saying," Iroh made a quick sign to the man to wait, "no bending in the school. Now back to your names. Aang?"

"Yes." The monk boy answered and Iroh bowed his head in his direction.

"We are honoured by your presence at our school Avatar." Iroh glanced at the list, "Next, Meng?"

"That's me." The girl with the two braids answered.

"Last we have, Mirok and Misant?" The twins nodded their agreement.

"Fine since everybody is here, Master Pakku, who is your art and music teacher as well as the Waterbending Master will bring you to your first class." Iroh waved at them while they were leaving the room and only Aang waved back. Master Pakku led them to the rooms with the art tools engraved on them.

"Now, listen." Master Pakku stood with his back to the wall looking very stern, his eyebrows lowered as if he was already watching for mistakes in their manners so he may water bend them. "Each class, apart bending and etiquette classes, are divided into three groups: The lower course, the normal one and the higher level. You will be going into the various courses and then at the end of this week you shall be appointed your levels. Now this is the lower level art course."

Without waiting to see if they understood or had any questions, the master turned around and opened the door, in one powerful swing. The three boys, caught in the attempt to sneak out of class through the window, froze.

The herd recognised Zuko, Jet and Sokka. The last one offered a grin to the fuming teacher before moving very slowly back to his place. The two others looked at each other, clearly blaming the other for being caught in such a position, before moving back to their places too.

There, completely ignoring the boys, sat Mai. The corner where she sat was darker than the rest of the room, as for her painting…well, it was covered in black.

With a dignity worth a king Master Pakku walked to his desk and sat there.

"What are you waiting for?" he barked at the herd, still standing there, "get a place and start painting! I need to see if you are more capable than this bunch of idiots here, who don't even posses the necessary respect for art." His tone had become menacing at the end of his sentence, causing the boys to lower their heads.

When Aang looked at them though he saw Zuko roll his eyes and Jet imitate his Masters way of speaking, mimicking his gestures. The herd spread to the different tables, mostly sitting together, not very comfortable with the others. The Sand twins went to get the brush and the water while Aang and Meng went to get some colours. Toph stood there without moving.

"What are you doing standing there?" Masters Pakku's voice asked again.

"I am blind, if you cannot see that. Art is an impossible subject for me." The girl replied in an equally angered voice. Masters Pakku's eyebrow twitched.

"Nothing is impossible in my classes!" he said as he drew himself to his full high "At least in your case we know your level. You shall with in the lower course. You may do as you wish now. Just remember that your grade here still counts and so I advice you to pay some attention, JET!"

Again Jet froze, this time he had a pen between his teeth and was attempting to draw with it.

"What?" he asked, the pen still in his mouth, "It's my own style of art! You said we should be creative."

The painting water of the new students formed itself into a whip and snatched the pen away, making Sokka and Zuko laugh at the surprised yell Jet gave.

"Stupidity is not counted as Art." Master Pakku said and Aang could swear he saw him smile and shivered, better not annoy this teacher…

The rest of the lesson was quiet, not including the time Zuko poured paint over Jet. Or the moment when Sokka cried he had painted a mountain and Jet answered it was a dancing tree, or when Mai suddenly took the entire black colour and threw it against her picture, looking very pleased with the result.

"Well…" Master Pakku marked a pause giving the new students a look, "I shall look over your creations. Now follow me along to your next class: English with Master Jong Jong."

Again not taking care about the students he turned around and brought them in front of the door covered with names of eminent authors. Mai had been following, a looming shadow behind them, Zuko as well.

Both passed past the group and entered. "Come in," Zuko called looking over his shoulder.

The room they stepped in was not very welcoming. The windows were covered, there was only one source of light and it were candles light in a circle. There were no chairs, only cushions to sit on.

"Master Jong Jong?" Zuko asked towards the centre of the room of the room, "The new students are here."

"Ah, very well, come along." A voice answered from the depth of the shadows, where a faint dark form was recognisable. Apprehensive about the this new teacher, the students walked forward, Toph following Aang, as she couldn't see where the candles were.

Jong Jong stepped forward. It was hard to see what he looked like, shadows from the candlelight flickered on his face. They did, however, catch the piercing eyes.

"New Students?" he asked, his voice raspy, "They are not ready for this class. This is higher level English. Take them to Master Pakku's Art Class until I have a lesson more suitable for them."

"We just came from Master Pakku's" Toph answered brusquely.

Jong Jong turned his sharp eyes to her, "and you would be…?"

"Toph Bei Fong" she answered boldly.

"Ah yes…"he sighed, "you're parents made special arrangements for you, seeing that you are blind…well if you've been to Master Pakku's you might as well sit down…"

They shuffled in hesitantly, taking the cushions at the very back of class.

Suddenly the door opened and two girls stepped in. One, the watertribe girl had her nose buried in a book , the other one, Earth kingdom, had a paper roll clutched under her arm. They sat down near the front of the room and started whispering together intently.

"Who are they?" Mirok whispered. Zuko glared at him slightly but answered.

"Freaks. Really smart and think they're like, totally individual. They even right stories, fan fictions or something."

"Silence," Jong Jong boomed then his voice sank, "this year we will be starting Gothic literature."

Mai raised her head and marginally opened her eyes. It was the most attentive Zuko had ever seen her in any class.


	3. More Lessons

PitA: We're back. Here's you're chapter!

Ida: As usal we don't own anything except the plot.

* * *

There were few students in the Higher Level English Course; Zuko and Mai, of course, Azula the princess, Katara the Nerd and the "Freaks". Jong Jong stood at the front of the class, gravely reading something spook and dead boring. The students' thoughts soon drifted…

She's really pretty…Aang thought as he looked at the Watertribe-girl Katara, who was staring at the air above Jong Jong's head as though it was the most fascinating thing she had ever seen. Her eyes were slightly out of focus and she didn't appear to be listening at all.

"Katara! What does Character X mean in this declaration to Character Y?" Jong Jong demanded suddenly.

"He means that he would like to marry her. The phrase 'my heart entwined with yours till death' shows the commitment he is willing to make to the relationship," Katara answered automatically, snapping out of her daze.

Jong Jong glowered at her, "Correct."

This was confusing. Aang turned to Mai who was sitting on the pillow beside him, the candlelight flickering on her face making it even gloomier.

"Nerd Talent," she answered dryly, "the ability to not-pay-attention-in-class-and-still-answere-all-qestions-correctly."

"NO TALKING!" Jong Jong snapped before returning to his rendition. It took only moments before the class had once again sunk into stupor…

She's smart, Aang's thoughts continued along the trail, and so pretty…

The lesson ended with Jong Jong shutting his book with a crack and glaring at them all from underneath thick, bushy eyebrows.

"Research the author," he snapped, then opened the door as a signal that class was over. The students sat still, momentarily blinded by the bright light pouring in from outside. Then they all scrambled up from their seats and started rushing towards the door.

"Sir," Mai said as she was leaving the room, "who was the author anyway?" She stood her ground as Jong Jong's evil eye hit her.

"Sommes," he muttered finally.

The new students had stood up somewhat uncertainly when Katara came towards them, smiling warmly, "hi there. I'm Katara, have you been to politics yet? No? Well then you can come with me, I have it now. "

Forever grateful and with much nodding they followed her.

The door f the politics classroom was unadorned, looking plain and innocent, but before the door stood a tall, dry-looking man with a long thin moustache chatting animatedly with Azula about the latest attempted coup in avatar-knows-where.

It was a sight enough to scare the Avatar and indeed, the Avatar felt sorely tempted to make a run for it. In the end, however, he followed his daydream in to the classroom.

There were no candles and pillows here yet somehow this room was even more frightening.

On the teachers desk a map had been erected on which many small figures of troops had been placed in order to form a complex battle plan.

One side of the room was covered in newspaper clippings on politics and wanted posters. On some o the clippings the names of the people had been blackened to make unreadable. This, of course, encouraged the rumour that it was the teacher's name that was mentioned in these articles.

The Back of the room featured the heading PROPAGANDA. Underneath it all kinds of posters from different nations were hung up, urging you to join the army and kill the evil air/earth/fire/water benders.

The students settled into their seats.

"I am Long Feng," their teacher announced, "I will not be referred to as L.F. You may call me Master Long Feng, for that is what I am, a Master of political theory."

Someone snorted. There was no doubt among the students that some of the theory had been put into practice already.

Long Feng glared at the class, "Welcome to the Intermediate Politics Course. Now…"

Long Feng, or L.F. as his students called him, spent the lesson doing a detailed examination of... something. It might have been a coup, but looked more like chaos. It was quite interesting, if you were interested in politics but, who was?

One minute before the lesson ended Long Feng began to explain the project they would be working on.

"Divide into groups," he said when the bell rang, "Stay seated! This will take only a minute!" Several students started to protest. "Groups of four! Then explain how this coup should be improved and how you would lead it to a success!"

L.F. simply raised his voice, "Now, you may go!"

The students streamed out of the classroom. The new students stuck close to Katara as she left the classroom. She smiled kindly at them.

"Now it's sports time. Everyone goes into their respective teams and trains. The students that have to cook lunch, it is my turn this week, go cook." She explained, "But don't worry, I'll get someone to take care of you. Sokka!"

"Yeah?" the brown hair boy asked, stopping short.

"Will you take care of there? They are new and I've got to go cook." Katara said, and then flounced away without waiting for an answer.

"Ummmmm…" the boy scratched his head and looked at them, unsure what to do now.

"Your girlfriend said something about Sports teams," Toph began, but was interrupted by a hacking, gagging cough from Sokka.

"Not girlfriend," he gasped when finished choking, "SISTER!"

"Oh," Toph sniffed, "Well whatever. Let's just go."

"Ri-ight." He nodded and moved towards the fields. The herd followed.

"I'm in the baseball team," Sokka started to explain, "Jet's captain," he scowled "but yeah. Zuko is soccer captain, Suki basketball, Ty Lee is cheerleading..."

"How do you become captain?" Toph asked interestedly.

"Challenge the current captain to a one-on-one and win. But don't bother challenging Ty Lee. That girl is so bendy its like she has no bones-"

"Who said I was going for cheerleading?!" Toph was the one scowling now.

"No one," Sokka shrugged, "Anyway-"

"Is Azula a team captain?" Meng asked anxiously.

"Her team would have no members!" Sokka snapped, "Now stop interrupting!!"

"But isn't Azula like Princess of the school?" one of the Sand-twins asked.

"Yeah, I thought," the other one chirped up too, "she was like-"

"NO BENDING!!!" Sokka yelled suddenly. Everyone stared at him in disbelieve.

"'Scuse me?" Toph demanded, putting her hands on her hips, "What?"

"There is no bending in the sports teams." Sokka answered, apparently very please to have the attention, "It's unfair to the none-benders. We have special bending teams for that. All the weirdos get together and take part in bending competitions."

They had reached the sports fields now.

"Go to the captain of the team you to join, and voilà, you're in," Sokka said, "Now, I gotta go." He winked at them and scampered off.

"Take care of us, huh?" Toph muttered. Then she strolled of towards a group of earth bending students and demanded loudly to be admitted into the team.

The Sand-Twins moved to the basketball-field to 'throw some hoops, dawg'. Meng followed them slowly while Aang just stood in the middle of the soccer field and suddenly became caught up in the game thus joining the soccer team.

After the sports lesson had finished the students collectively drifted towards the lunch. Caught up in the wave the herd followed. They stood in line with the others, received their food with the others and then stood there as the rest of the students sat down.

They had nowhere to go. Every other student took their place with an air of righteousness that suggested that this spot belonged to them. And so it seemed.

The twins had the fewest problems. They were quickly assimilated with the other members of the basketball team. Meng had sat there too and was soon involved in a deep conversation with another girl.

Aang looked at Toph who was standing next to him, she scowled and started moving to the tables at the back where no one was sitting. He followed her.

"Hey! You two!" a voice suddenly called out. Somewhere in the middle of the field Katara was waving, "come sit with us."

They hesitated for a moment then Toph shrugged and they surged forward to claim the places.

"You're Toph and Aang right?" Katara asked, "glad to see you. I couldn't stand seeing you standing there so helpless."

"We were about to sit at those tables over there," Toph said stiffly taking a bite.

"Over there??" Sokka pointed at the tables with his chop sticks, "No way. That would have been the greatest mistake in you're life. That's where the total rejects sit."

"Ah," Toph said, her mouth full, "whatever."

"Seriously," Sokka looked at them, "Where'd you come from? The middle of nowhere? These things have an order?"

"Okay," Aang said smiling brightly at Katara.

Sokka glared at him, "You're the Avatar, right? How are you going to keep balance in the world if you don't even know the hierarchy of the lunch tables?"

"Hierarchy…?" The Avatar seemed puzzled.

"Duh," pity was dripping from the Watertribe-boy's eyes, "look, I'll explain," he pointed to the front," the further you sit up there, the cooler you are."

"Who decides how cool you are?" Toph asked.

"Instincts," Sokka replied, "the order is established. Now it all depends on who you hang out with."

"Ah," Toph smirked.

"Wow, this stuff is really good," Aang said, tucking in enthusiastically, "I thought school food was always terrible."

"Well it all depends on who cooks," Katara shrugged, "This week it's me and Ty Lee, so you can count on some good stuff."

"But next week," Suki, who was also sitting at the table, announced, "Next week it's Jet and some girl so bring your own lunch."

"Oh come on," Katara responded reasonably, "Jet's quite a good cook."

"Not when he's cooking with a girl," Suki said darkly, "or Zuko. Or Sokka."

"Sokka generally isn't a good cook," Katara said laughing.

"Who is?" Aang asked, eager to be involved in the conversation.

"Azula, ´Ty Lee (but not with Jet), Suki(when not with Azula), Katara, Haru(when with someone who cans see him)," Sokka counted off on his fingers.

Then a bell rang. Everyone jumped up.

"Damn," Sokka swore and started shoving the rest of his food into his mouth as quickly as he could. The others stood up carrying their dishes with them.

"We clean up in the last lesson," Suki explained, "everyone has to help."

"What do we have now?" Toph severely disgruntled having just been forced to cut her meal short.

"Etiquettes."

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

"Miss Bei Fong," The headmaster himself was teaching this class, "you will please dance with Zuko, one of the most excellent dancers in the class. You're blindness will not hinder you the least with a partner like him."

Toph scowled. So did Zuko. Not that either minded but there was an appearance to be kept up.

"Men please ask a lady for the dance. Don't worry you will all have a chance to dance with each other, we will rotate, no jealousy please." Iroh called out smiling broadly. The boys blushed furiously as each asked a girl to dance with him.

Zuko walked over to Toph. She glared at him.

"I can see perfectly fine," she snapped, "and dance too!"

Zuko's only reply was to deepen his scowl.

"You sure are talkative," Toph said angrily, slapping her hand against his chest. A very well defined chest, she couldn't help noticing.

"Take you're stances," Iroh called putting on some dreadful music.

It was a tango. Zuko offered Toph his hand which she took. Then he pulled her close. Of course, a close stance was necessary for a tango but it still caught Toph by surprise. She could feel Zuko pressing against her, his thighs alongside hers when they took the steps.

He smelt good, like Axe. Toph felt the deep urge to look Zuko in the eye and tell him 'bom chicka wah wah'. Not really, but you get the picture.

His hands were warm in hers, very dry and slightly rough and at the same time very soft. They felt incredibly good.

The lesson was over much to soon.

"My pleasure," Zuko said stiffly to Toph.

She rolled her eyes, "looks like we're gonna have the pleasure for some time."

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PitA: I just had my wisdom tooth removed when I wrote the last part so don't piss me. Just review. 


	4. Lessons with a Mad Genius

PitA: Well we are back after this long and exhausting holidays! ;)

Ida: I wish to apologize for the fact that this chapter took so long to come, but the former chapter got lost and had to be rewritten.

PitA: Anyway, here it goes! The Academy's new chapter! Oh and we don't own anything**  
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**Lessons with a Mad Genius (and more)**

The sun, a royal ball of flames, rose in all its majesty… over a bunch of students yawning and stumbling to reach their classes. Still a bit lost, the new students had to ask their way a few times before they saw Katara. Aang was at her side in an instant.

"Hey, Katara! Are you having Maths higher level too? Wow that is really wonderful, you are pretty good at school, no? I was really impressed yesterday in English." He blabbered without pausing.

Sokka gave him a weird look, "Hey breathe man, you're red all over the face." He called to the overenthusiastic monk who truly had turned red but for different reason than the one named by the water tribe warrior.

Toph snorted while passing them and, after a quick nod in direction of Katara, asked in a harsh voice, "So are you coming with us or not?"

"Yes, do you want me to show you the way?" Katara asked smiling nicely even if a bit confused. Toph had an answer ready to that but before she could open her mouth Aang shouted out, "Yes please! It would be an honour if you would help us."

Toph's face changed into a scowl and she hit the floor sending the two twins crashing against the wall. "Hey what was that for?" One of the innocent called out, trying to dislocate himself from the wall.

"Sorry can't see well." Toph snirred behind her back, she was already following Aang, Katara, and Sokka. Meng decided that it was best not to anger her anymore and quickly ran to catch up.

They arrived in front of the maths room, whose door was decorated with math equation long enough to give you a headache just by looking at it.

"Watch out," Sokka warned the others of the formula, "This is dangerous stuff."

"It's not that bad," she said "It is a simple rule created to show the relationship between the real numbers and the imaginary numbers."

The herd looked at her then at the door again. They all knew that they would not stay in the maths higher class. Katara was about to open the door when Azula appeared around the corner, followed by her worshiper as usual. She passed the herd without a glance and entered the room.

Her worshipers waited till the door had closed again to go back to their own classes. Some greeted an earth tribe girl who was coming towards the herd. The twins recognised the girl from the English class and realised with a shock that what she was holding was the book assigned to read. They looked at each other in disbelieve: some freaks really read those books?!

Not knowing she was the object of intense observation the girl advanced to greet Katara while this one was looking over the girls shoulder.

"Hello Enja, tell me where is Anica? Did you have a fight? Is she sick?" Katara finally asked as she apparently hadn't found the person she had been looking for.

Enja gave her a confused look "She doesn't have maths higher level, that's all." She answer obviously surprise the nerd would ask such a question.

With a shrug of her shoulder she open the door for all to see the inside. Aang, the twins and Meng gasped. "Wow!" Mirok cried, "Only a genius can make this!"

"No way," his brother countered "Only a mad genius!"

The math room was indeed worth a prize in architecture: it had no right angle at all. Even the windows had weird forms that recalled of triangles. As for the board… it was a pentagon. The floor was slightly bent in the middle but the tables seemed adapted to the room since none of the new students fell when they sat down.

On the other hand as soon as the twins tried swinging on the back legs of the chair in boredom, they immediately crashed down.

"Ah I see new students." A voice filled with snorts suddenly appeared in the room and Master Bumi hopped in. Literally hopped.

"Now, now, class, lately I have been hearing this song…" he continued his bigger eye fixed on the class while the other, smaller one, seemed to wink to each of them in a mischief way. "And so I decided to sing it to you:

"_Each time I walk out the door, _

_I see him dying a little more inside, _

_I don't want to be_…"

here he paused

" _a murderer_."

Since he had already destroyed their ears the new students had troubles believing him. Next to them Sokka winced "Oh man I had forgotten how bad his singing was."

There was a quick knock on the door and Master Pakku opened the door, a very annoyed look on his face.

"Bumi! Please teach your class some respect for the greater arts! They are making such noise I can't make myself understandable!"

"But of course Pakku: Class!" Bumi's voice echoed in the quiet room, "Please keep quiet, as you! You are disturbing Master Pakku's class." Nobody answer and with a satisfied look, the art teacher was gone.

"Now, the second verse goes like this:

"_Cause I know that he knows I'm unfaithful  
And it kills him inside"  
_

This time the door flew open and a fuming Master Pakku made his entrance. Master Bumi didn't stop at all. He continued with great apparent joy into the higher tones:

"_To know that I am happy with some other guy  
I can see him dying"_

"B-U-M-I!" If master Pakku had been angry or fuming before now he was seriously pissed off. And ready to kill. Bumi was unimpressed.

"But Pakku, you asked that I introduce them to the greater Arts, which I did: the greater art of singing. How did you find it?"

Master Pakku couldn't speak, his anger was too great. His hands were twitching at his side and it was clear that he was wishing to throw a wave at Bumi but since both were teachers and students were watching, Master Pakku made a great effort and went out. Not without slamming the door shut though.

"Ah, poor Pakku, so misunderstood in this society." Here Master Bumi sight.

Next he asked them to calculate the area of a circle he drew as a square on the board. This lesson seemed endless, and when the bell rang the students flew out of the room. Only Azula walked as calm as ever, even if even her lips were pressed upon each other more than usual from a forming headache.

"Alright, now you should go to the Guru." Katara instructed them. After having told them where the class was she left, followed by the dreaming eyes of Aang.

They found the Guru's door without problems. Meng wanted to push open the door and to step into the room when a voice called: "Stop, wait."

Too late. Meng had stepped into the room… onto air and fell good twenty centimetres down on rocks. Zuko came running to them, "I told you to wait, it's a deadly trap if you don't know the Guru's room. He destroyed the walls to be closer to nature."

"Thanks for the info," grumbled Meng as she stood up.

"Ah we have new students I see." A calm and soft voice spoke from the middle of the classroom. If it still could be called a classroom. The floor was gone and only long, black stone lay on the ground. The walls were gone as Zuko had said and you could see the sports fields behind the man sitting on a high pile of rocks.

"Welcome to the place of peace and joy." The man spoke again, opening his eyes.

"Peace and joy, my ass." Toph whispered and the Guru looked in her direction. "Oh Miss Bei-Fong I see. I also see that we will have to work on your relaxation skills and views on the world."

Aang looked at the Guru with admiration bordering on worshipping. As in a daze he walked up to the Master of self disciplin. On the way he missed an especially low stone and stumbled; falling face forward. The Guru's eyebrow rose.

"Our young Avatar you still have much to learn about balance and equilibrium, I see. Well, well now that our over-enthusiastic Prince has also joined us, we may proceed with the journey to souls."

Needless to say that Toph and Zuko did not enjoy this lesson at all, while Aang was clearly fascinated to the point of asking the Guru if he could come to him in case of problems. To this the Guru replied there were no problems, only illusions of problems.

Aang was literally kissing the floor/stone the Guru was sitting on. Meng and the twins were too disturbed by this weird old man with a habit to make you drink things you didn't want to know of what they were made of, to have an honest opinion.

After class, Zuko stormed off to the fields, ready to let all his anger on a poor little innocent ball that had done nothing but be declared fit for football.

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Ida: we hope you liked and recognized the Guru and Bumi. And the song was _Unfaithful_ by Rihanna

PitA: please review, we are still open for any couples you may wish!


	5. Zuko's Dilema

PitA: Ahhh, I love this chapter. It's one of my favourites.

Ida: We were wondering about the technological development in our story. First we thought we'd keep it the way it is but then...

PitA:...we figured we'd miss so many funny situations, for example cell phones ringing in class...

Ida: As usual, We own nothing but the plot.

* * *

Zuko was going insane. It was the first really hot day since school had started again and he was _seriously going insane_.

They were _everywhere_. On a normal day you could mostly ignore them but on a day like this constantly thrust themselves into his mind.

It started in the morning, when he walked with the other students towards the gates of the school and it didn't get better form there.

'Shorts should be banned' Zuko thought as his eyes were drawn magnetically towards another pair of legs.

Everywhere there were girls, their butts crammed into minuscule shorts, smooth legs going on forever, tiny tops filled to burst.

It was all getting a bit too much for Zuko's brain. He needed to take a break so he knelt down on the pavement, head down and pretended to tie his shoe.

"Are you alright Zuko?" someone asked.

He looked up. Katara, wearing shorts and a low cut, loose, yellow top was leaning down to him. The top was falling forward; her hands were on her knees, her arms pressing her breasts together.

Zuko's brain shut down. _ I can see her bra… _

Indeed he could. It was pink and lacy.

"I'm okay," he managed to croak, eyes riveted.

"Then come on, we're going to be late," Katara straightened, sadly removing her cleavage from sight. Then, however, she turned around and presented Zuko of an equally lovely view of her behind.

During the lessons Zuko was all right. Mostly. As long as they didn't turn around to him with a low cut top or leaned forward sticking their asses into the air or talked to him, Zuko was fine.

During the break an incident then occurred, one to which Zuko was only an observer.

Ty Lee had dropped her books, usually nothing that would provoke a pile-up in the corridor. Then Ty Lee bent down, her tiny cheerleader skirt sliding up dangerously and _WHAM_! Jet's hand had soundly slapped her ass.

Ty Lee shot up dropping her books again and squealing. She jumped at Jet and started to hit him with little, feminine slaps. Knowing that Ty Lee would have pounded Jet's face into the ground had she been seriously insulted made the whole thing seem slightly ridiculous.

Then somehow they went form hitting to exchanging saliva and the crowd dispersed. No one wanted to see THAT.

None of the other males seemed to be suffering as much as Zuko. Jet was eyeing his fair share of cleavages apart from Ty Lee's and Sokka was strolling around in a happy stupor.

Zuko went to his Math Class. He almost considered skipping then he noticed how many of _them_ were doing that.

In class he tried his hardest to pay Attention to Master Bumi and not be distracted by Ty Lee crossing and uncrossing her legs out of boredom. He was hit by rock several times.

Suddenly Ty Lee's cell phone rang.

With agility you wouldn't have thought of him Bumi sprang towards Ty Lee's bag and retrieved the phone. He opened, simultaneously hitting speaker.

"Hey Ty lee," Jet's voice echoed through the room, "where are you, baby?"

"Oh Jet," Master Bumi sang, showing an unexpected talent for imitating voices. Ty Lee turned bright red.

"Listen sweets, why don't you meet me in the Earthbending room? There's no one here now…"Jet's voice trailed off, heavy with implications.

"In the Earthbending room…I don't know…"

"Oh come on, baby, we can have our fun!"

Master Bumi let out a cackle; "You are a horrible boyfriend Jet, not being able to distinguish between your girlfriend and your math teacher. Now get out of my classroom before I come check on you!!"

He snapped the cell phone shut and handed it back to Ty Lee grinning insanely.

This incident was almost enough to make Zuko forget the troubles of this day. However when he left the changing rooms for soccer practice he was instantly reminded.

The cheerleaders had, apparently, decided that it was too hot to wear all of their already short and revealing uniform and had removed their tops. Now they were dancing around in practically non-existent skirts and sports bra.

Oh dear.

"Hey Zuuuuuuuko!" Someone called. Don't look up, don't look up, don't look up. Zuko looked up.

One of the cheerleaders was running towards him, he could clearly see her breasts bouncing.

"hey Zuko,," she said again stopping short in front of him, "Could you get a teacher?" Jet's been hurt?"

Yes there was Jet, lying in the middle of a clump of cheerleaders his head on Ty Lee's lap, thoroughly enjoying himself.

Zuko nodded and left, as quickly as possible.

They didn't even notice what they did to him did they? Zuko thought angrily as he stalked through the corridor after lunch. No, they just went about their business as always, laughing, talking swinging their hips.

Even Mai was adding to his misery.

"It's too hot," she complained, sitting with Ty Lee on the steps of the Veranda.

Ty lee looked at her disapprovingly, "That's why you don't wear long, black clothing on days like this!"

"Whatever," Mai scowled and pulled at the front of her shirt to unstuck her bra.

Zuko was suddenly treated to a vivid mental image of the breasts cupped in that bra. He turned and bolted.

"Hey Zuko, Where are you going? We have Waterbending now!" Someone called to him.

"I'll be there in a minute!" he yelled back.

At the Academy the teachers believed that, even if you were a firebender or a non-bender or a frog, it was necessary to learn about all the elements, their connections with each other and the balance between the,. So, in the afternoons, the whole school had lessons together. Mondays Etiquette, Tuesdays Air-, Wednesdays Water-, Thursdays Earth- and Fridays Firebending.

Zuko was late and when he opened the door he was greeted be an ice dagger being thrown at him. Reacting instinctively he threw some fire at it, melting the dagger and splashing the water on a girl he had never seen before. Wearing a white top.

Zuko stared at her. She was very pretty with long white her, startling blue eyes and full breasts. Her shirt was now see-through and was clinging tightly to her body. The males in the room were hypnotized.

"Zuko! You have managed to splash your new exchange students, Princess Yue of the Watertribe! Good job!!" Pakku was livid.

"Sorry," Zuko mumbled, still unable to remove his eyes from her cleavage.

"That's okay," she smiled at him.

"I'll dry your shirt," Katara, the ever helpful, sprang up and waterbent the water out of the shirt. A sigh went through the room, disappointment on the male side, relieve on the female.

After the lesson Zuko leaned against the wall looking suitably pissed off and trying to calm himself.

A group of girls near him was discussing the incident loudly.

"Did you _see_ the way they _stared_ at her?!?"

"Seriously, it's like they have nothing else on their minds!"

"But that's the point they don't!"

"Aww, come on they can't all be that way!"

The girl who had said the last part turned brightly around to Zuko, "Right Zuko?"

He looked at her and without any doing on his part his eyes flicked down to her breasts.

She turned back around shooting him a disgusted look, "You're right they're ALL like that!"

* * *

PitA: Yup, Zukohas horomones. He might not have a sense fo humour, but he has hormones.

Ida: As usual, please review!


	6. Biology Lesson and A Break Up

PitA:...Sorry?

Ida: We don't know anything as always

* * *

Biology Lesson and a Break Up

It was now a few weeks since school had started again at the school of the mighty Dragon of the West and nothing had changed. The teachers were as late as the students to class; they still believed the students did their homework; students still failed to appear in class and projects deadlines were pushed further and further. Yet today was a special day: the Biology teacher was back. She had been missing. Nobody really knew why. People said it was because she was pregnant, others because she married, and still other claimed that it was both at the same time.

"So tell me, how is Madame Wu as a teacher?" Aang was, as usual, gazing in adoration towards Katara, who gave him a weak smile.

"Well she has a habit to… let's call it deviate from the subject at hand." Katara winced slightly at the huge grin that was glued on Aang's face "You'll probably understand what I mean as soon as lesson starts."

Aang nodded with great energy and looked at the biology door.

It had an animal bone head drawn on it plus a saying, 'eating meat twice a day will make you happy and will give you better chance in making money'. Aang's eyebrows rose and his mouth opened: eating meat makes you happy?? Ewwww, no way. Shivering at the thought he turned to watch Katara again.

As they entered the class along with the Sand bender twins, Toph, Meng, the two freaky book reading earth and water benders, and surprisingly Zuko.

"I didn't know you liked Biology so much." Toph said in a mocking tone in his direction.

"Not very hard to get a good grade here, just assume the worse will happen to you and she approves." He shrugged. Again Aang, who was standing next to the pair, felt his eyebrows rise. _Oh-oh that sounds nearly as bad as Mr Bumi's singing… I wonder what he means by that._ The now near panic monk/Avatar thought.

As they entered the room, the not-anymore-new Students realized the room was on one side full of shelves with glass containers in which were floating weird things, that looked like they were over a hundred years old and stuck in alcohol all that time; while the second part was decorated with patterns of stars, different fruits poster proclaiming their virtues and books about "The future revealed to you through your Zodiac sign", "Predictions of the stars to humans" and "Animal intestines reading".

As usual the only one unimpressed by this was Toph who, as bold as ever, marched in the room without a spared look at the wall.

"Greetings my students," a feminine voice spoke from behind the teachers' desk. The only representative of the female gender among the teachers, Madame Wu was seating on her chair looking with great interest at the students coming in.

After a quick check up if everyone was there, she proceeded to review what they had done last year. "So, can anyone tell me which animal intestines are best for newcomers?" she asked the class in a calm and even voice.

Aang choked. Katara's hand was up the moment the question ended. "Frog and worms." She answered.

"Ah Katara dear, I had hoped you would still remember. I equally hope you are still following my advice and are not eating mangos, since I found out for you that Apples will help keep your skin smooth." Katara merely bowed her head in agreement. Aang was starting to understand what she had meant earlier by getting off topic.

But Madame Wu didn't care and told the Sand bender twins that, since they were twins, they would have to stand in the moonlight of the coming Wednesday if they wanted luck with the girls. Toph got a recipe so that her spirit would open up more, while Zuko was ordered to drink a glass of chocolate each day to be in brighter spirits. He gave no comment but rolled his eyes as soon as she was occupied with the water bender.

After receiving their homework, find out about nerves cells and which food is good to appease them, the group slowly separated till they saw in front of them a group of girls squealing and chatting with great passion. Ty Lee was standing in the middle of them.

"Is it true you broke up with Jet because he was gay?"

"No way, I heard it was because he was obviously hitting on that new girl, you know the exchange one."

"You have no idea! It is because he is going out with Katara again. You know how those two never get enough of getting together and apart."

"Girls!" Ty Lee sighed "I broke up with Jet because; you know he never gave me enough attention, and also you know, looked at other girls. Didn't do much to reassure me about that, so yeah." All the girls nodded in approval, men were bad and that was it.

Just as if he had a radar which immediately brought him there where people spoke his name, Jet appeared around the corner. Ignoring the glares that the girls around Ty Lee shot at him with an ease that could only come from years of training, he went straight toward Katara. On the way he winked at two passing girls. One blushed while the other one looked ready to gag.

"Katara-chan," he called; his voice sweet and nearly innocent. Nearly, "You promised to help me with cooking." Saying that he casually flung his arm around her shoulder; smiling all the time at her in a sweet, arrogant way.

"I told you not to call me like this Jet. Now get your arm away from my shoulders, it's your fault if you suck at cooking anyway and no teaching of mine will ever help you." Katara answer and behind her Sokka was holding his hands clasped in a prayer.

"Awww, come on Katara-chan, you know I love calling you that. Besides it is my special name for you, eh? So what d'ya say? Meeting me in the kitchen for lunch?" Jet still had his arm around Katara's shoulders and now he gently raised her chin, "Please Katara-chan?"

Aang was watching everything; his eyes wide in horror. This was not happening! He had such respect for Jet! He had even considered asking him for help about Katara, since Jet seemed born with the ability to please and attract women.

Next to him Sokka was apparently going through similar pain. He was ready to bite off his own shirt if things continued.

"Each time, each time" he kept on grumbling under his breath, "EACH FKING TIME!" he shouted out loud just as Madame Wu was stepping out of her room.

"Oh, Sokka I thought you had better manners than this! Come with me to Iroh right now, we have to change something in your behavior." Sokka was pulled off by his ear; arms waving by his side while his face was torn between pain and horror.

"Each time!" he was still shouting when they disappeared around the corner. The two groups, the girls around Ty Lee and the ones with Katara and Jet had not moved since Sokka had shouted out but now they remembered the business at hand.

"Come on Ty Lee! You can't let him flirt with Katara, you have to do something!" One girl said pointing at the grinning Jet.

"Yeah come on, hit him! Hit him!" 'Hit him' this became a chant taken up by random people who had no idea what was going on but who were always ready to watch a good fight.

"Hn, looks like you go loooads of fangirls, Jet." Zuko snored at his archrival crossing his arms to enjoy the show.

"Ha, can't say I disagree there Zuko." Jet answered smirking in his direction while his eyes stayed focused on Ty Lee, he knew better than to not be careful around her. "Not like somebody else I know, eh?"

Zuko was by his side in one instant, "What are you saying grass guy?"

"Oh, feeling concerned Zuko?" Jet smirk had widened. Everyone's focus had shifted to the two rivals as the chance of them fighting was growing rapidly and everyone was still wish for one big fight. After making sure that Ty Lee was not going to kick his ass in front of everyone Jet lazily turned around.

Zuko was already standing in his usual fire bending stance while Jet took his time to place himself on the other side. "Not gonna reply are ya? Oh well then if it is a fight you want…?"

The crowd was getting closer and closer chanting the two boys names, in low voices making the whole event look like the summoning of an ancient beast. The whole show was ruined when the Guru walked around the corner and threw his hands up in the air, while running between the two fighters.

"You mustn't fight, this will bring you only pain and great damage to your soul." He said placing a fatherly hand on the shoulders of the boys.

"And raises the cost for the reparations." Iroh added who had somehow materialized next to his nephew. "Don't you all have earth bending classes to attend?" He asked with a very fake smile that said you-have-five-seconds-to-get-before-I-roast-the-lot-of-you!

The masses of students stepped back: scary. Nodding respectfully (and fearfully) they all made their way to the earth bending rooms, while Zuko and Jet were forced to attend extra lessons with the Guru.

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PitA: As always please review

Ida: The next chapter is going to be great! And up soon!


	7. Gossip

**Warning: This Chapter contains Yaoi (BoyxBoy love). If you don't like it skip this chapter. **

PitA: It's not even real yaoi...

Ida: Well they do kiss but nothing else.

PitA: Shut up. You're giving everything away! Quickly the disclaimer!

Ida: (roll eyes) Oops? We don't own anything.

* * *

Things were normal. Or at least as normal as they ever got at the Academy. Jet flirted and fought with Zuko. Aang made goo-goo eyes at Katara. Azula ruled by inspiring fear in everyone she looked at.

Two months had passed since the beginning of the school year and slowly the new kids were no longer 'the new kids' but becoming part of their respective groups.

At the moment school was over and everyone had been sent home except the bad kids (who were in detention) and the good kids (who were doing extra classes). Aang was skipping down the hallway in a very good mood, looking forward to his special water-bending training with –sigh– Katara.

However, first he had to bring his art-homework (an interpretation of a traditional northern watertribe painting) to the art room or Master Pakku would certainly behead him. So he skipped around the corner and opened the door to the art room.

He shut it again quickly. His eyes were wide and he forgot to breathe for a moment. Surely what he had just seen could not be real. It was impossible. He must be hallucinating. Yes, that was it. The fumes from the chemicals they had just experimented with in science class had caused him to hallucinate. When he opened the door again it would be gone and he could quietly lay his homework on Master Pakku's desk and go meet Katara.

The Avatar opened the door slowly, only a crack, but it was enough. The vision was still firmly in place and even pinching himself would not dispel it.

Jet was sitting on one of the art tables, his long legs dangling and in front of him stood Zuko. But they were not insulting each other, not ripping each others throat out, not strangling each other. No it was much worse than that.

Jet's hands were at Zuko's hips, pulling the Firenation-Prince close to the table and with that to him. Zuko in turn had one hand on the back of the brown haired boy's head drawing him deeper into the fierce tongue battle they were engaged in. Yes, that's right. Zuko and Jet were kissing!!!!

Aang closed the door and began walking down the corridor, dazed and unsteady. What was happening to the world?

He was mumbling to himself, not really watching where he was going. His whole system had gone into shock. It was almost impossible to hold himself steady on his feet. And as he made his way slowly down the hallway, not looking or caring where he was going, he walked straight into another person.

"Aang, my son," the Guru looked at him worriedly, "What is wrong? You seem greatly disturbed."

Aang hesitated but only for a moment. The Guru would know the right thing to say, something that would put the world right again.

"I just saw Zuko and Jet kissing in the art room," Aang said, "But I think I was hallucinating."

But the Guru only smiled widely and launched into a speech the fickleness of love, the flightiness of youth and how love and hate stemmed from the same charka and were interchangeable with each other. He ended with a warning to stay away from drugs.

Aang understood only two things. 1. The Guru was very impressive and 2. The Guru believed him so the vision had to be true.

But he felt slightly better now. Good enough at least to pull himself together and find his way to the water-bending room.

Katara was waiting for him, obviously bored. She had already prepared a speech about the fact that she was doing him a favor here and he should respect that and please be on time but when she saw the poor boy stumbling into the room, his eyes wide with shock, the words died in her throat.

"What happened to you?" she cried, gesturing for him to sit down.

Aang sat, keeping his head down, looking miserable, "I'm sorry Katara. It's not really my place to tell. I wish I could, but…"

And Katara, being a girl, smelled gossip. She wouldn't tell anyone of course. She wasn't that type of person. But she wanted to know. "You can tell me," She gave Aang a winning smile, "I won't tell anyone I promise."

Aang hesitated but shook his head, "I can't…"

"Come on, it's bothering you; I can see that," Katara persisted, "you'll feel better if you tell someone."

"You won't tell anyone?" Aang looked at her. He wanted to tell her, desperately. But he was a decent person and wasn't going to gossip about things that weren't his business, "You promise?"

"Of course!" Katara exclaimed, "I promise."

"All right," Aang said slowly, "I went to the art room before I came here. I had to hand in a late homework. I forgot to do that now," he added unhappily. Katara waited patiently. "Anyway, I opened the door to the art room and first I thought I was hallucinating. But I think it was real," he paused, "Jet and Zuko were kissing each other."

Katara waited a moment for the punch line. Then she began to laugh, "You must be mistaken Aang. It was probably Jet and some girl."

But Aang shook his head, "I hoped that too but it was defiantly Zuko."

"Man," Katara stopped laughing when she realized Aang was being perfectly serious, "that's unbelievable," _hot too_, a voice in her said, "what did you do then?"

"Closed the door and left." Aang sighed, "Don't tell anyone okay? It's none of our business who they're kissing. But it's just so surreal…"

"Jet and Zuko," Katara mused, "Who'd have thought? But don't worry I won't tell."

And she really didn't intend to. But somehow she was so disturbed by the thought that these two enemies could actually have engaged in any mouth-to-mouth action that she had to tell someone. And of course that person also promised not to tell anyone and the rumors started to develop. Let's take a look at what happened to it…

From: "Aang saw Zuko and Jet kissing in the art room."

To: "Aang saw Zuko and Jet making out in the art room."

Followed by: "Aang saw Jet and Zuko making out in the art room and apparently they were getting it on pretty heavily!"

Then: "Aang saw Zuko and Jet getting it on in the art room!"

Next: "Zuko and Jet were screwing in the art room! And Aang was there!"

After that: "Zuko and Jet were having sex in the art room while Aang watched them!"

And: "Zuko, Jet and Aang had a threesome in the art room!"

And, of course, the next morning all of the school was informed of what had (allegedly) happened in the art room. The only people not spoken to were Zuko, Jet and (from those that only heard the last versions) Aang.

Aang was miserable. He had berated Katara endlessly for telling anyone and she in turn punched her friend. But there was nothing he could do anymore. The word was out and the more it was talked about the more theories began circulating.

Apparently Zuko and Jet had been in love with each other since the moment they first met and they only fought so that no one would get behind their little secret. They allowed themselves to be put in detention because it was one way they could spend time together undisturbed.

Zuko and Jet didn't seem to notice all the talking that was going on about them. Of course everyone whispered that they didn't notice because they were to busy staring at each other to take in anything else. In reality they simply didn't care very much, though Jet did wonder where all the girls that usually followed him went.

All day Zuko and Jet were watched carefully, the least motion they made towards each other interpreted as a sign of their undying affection. There was one especially bad moment when the two of them came out of the boy's locker room together. As the last people. When almost everyone else was at lunch already. And they were fixing their clothes, Zuko tucking in his shirt and Jet was pulling up his pants by half an inch because they were riding so low on his hips that they threatened to fall off.

The thoughts running through the heads were almost the same everywhere. _You mean they were…? In __**there**?!_

And then they went to lunch together, another obvious confirmation of what everyone already knew. Never mind the fact that both of them were hungry and wanted food and lunch was the only place they would get it.

All eyes were on the two as they made there way to the food and then to the tables. Jet was walking in front of Zuko, eyes fixed on his plate (embarrassment, the crowd decided, not hunger). Zuko walked behind him, eyes staring forward (looking at Jet, not for a place to sit).

And then Zuko reached out and brushed a piece of leave from Jet's hair, "You've got something there."

Jet turned to him and nodded slightly, "Thanks."

Then they sat down and ate their lunch in silence, not bothering not wonder why everyone was gaping at them. People were weird like that.

Jet stared at Zuko. It was a wonder really, that he was sitting here at the lunch table with the person he had considered his greatest rival. All because of what had happened yesterday.

- Flashback -

"_Zuko! Jet!" Master Pakku was practically frothing at the mouth, "I have had enough of your childish fighting! Detention for both of you! Come to the art room after school!! And now get to class!"_

_Jeering, Jet returned the Hookswords to their place. Zuko relaxed his fire-bending stance and glared at him. They were in detention for fighting between classes. Again. _

_When they came to the art room, Master Pakku was waiting. He held out two buckets to them, "You are going to clean the tables."_

_Jet's eyes almost fell out of his head, "All of them??"_

"_All of them," Master Pakku glowered at them both, "I will have to leave you alone for a while, to attend the teachers meeting but be warned: you are not getting out of here until EVERY SINGLE TABLE IS CLEAN!!!" _

"_Yes sir," Zuko rolled his eyes and grabbed one of the buckets, making his way to the first table. They were covered in paint splotches from where enthusiastic painters had forgotten to lay down paper under their pictures. It was going to take a lot of time and a lot of scrubbing to clean this thing. _

_They worked in silence for a while. A short while. Then Jet started whistling, low and out of tune. It wasn't a very loud noise but it annoyed Zuko to no end. Finally he couldn't take it anymore. _

"_Jet! Will you stop?!?"_

_Jet looked up at him, annoyed, "I'm not doing anything!"_

"_You're whistling!"_

"_You can barley hear that!"_

_Zuko was fuming already, "Yes, I can. It's annoying, so shut up!"_

"_Whatever." Jet rolled his eyes and returned to scrubbing the table. After a moment Zuko followed the suit. He finished one of the tables and moved to the next. A couple of minutes later Jet finished his table as well but instead of doing the same as Zuko he settled on to one of the tables and watched, that annoying, cocky grin on his face. _

_Zuko raised his head and stared at him, "What are you doing?"_

"_Taking a break." Jet said, twisting his neck from side to side. _

"_We have to finish all these tables! Will you please help?" _

"_No, I don't think I will," Jet's grin widened, pissing off Zuko more than anything. He crossed the room with a quick stride and grabbed the front of Jet's shirt, pulling him close. The art tables were so high that even sitting Jet's face was the same height as Zuko's. They stared each other in the eye. Jet was still grinning._

"_What 'cha gonna do, huh?" _

_And then Zuko lost it. He pulled Jet in and pressed their mouths together and without really thinking about it the brown haired boy responded to the kiss. _

_They continued to kiss, neither of them daring to break away and Jet's hands automatically wandered to Zuko's hips. The Firenation Prince's hand had meanwhile released the front of Jet's shirt and moved to his head. _

_The kiss became deeper, more intense but eventually both of the boys were out of breath and they broke the kiss. Returning to their senses, they realized what they had just done. Jet's hands instantly released Zuko who immediately sprang away. They stared at each other warily, as if the other was going to assault him. _

"_So," Jet was the first to recover. He ran his fingers through his hair, "You kissed me."_

"_You kissed me back," Zuko was quick to point out, not willing to take the blame all by himself. _

"_You started it," Jet replied, "What the hell were you thinking?"_

"_You were pissing me off."_

"_So you kiss me? Excellent come back," Jet almost laughed except that this really wasn't the time for it. He'd just tongued a guy for goodness sake! "What does this mean?"_

"_Nothing I guess," Zuko sounded hopeful, "I didn't mean anything."_

"_Good," Jet agreed readily, "I didn't either."_

_They nodded at each other, both greatly relieved. It could have gone much, much worse. What if someone had seen them? Best not think about that. _

- End of Flashback -

But the incident had changed a little something between them. They couldn't fight anymore. Whenever one of them started, the other got that look and both would be reminded of what happened. So they stopped fighting, at least for now.

"I wanted to ask you something," Zuko said suddenly to Jet. His face was unsmiling as always, but Jet sensed that this was something big.

"Yeah, what?" He asked nonchalantly, trying to seem normal. _Please don't be about yesterday, please don't be about yesterday. _

"Well," Zuko seemed slightly embarrassed, "There's this girl and I wanted to ask…"

He trailed off and Jet almost laughed with relieve. Something about a girl, he could deal with that; he was an expert after all.

"Toph?" He asked and when Zuko nodded (highly embarrassed by now), he leaned forward, "Alright, here's what you have to do…"

What neither of them knew was that the conversation was being eagerly listened too and analyzed by the fellow students sitting at neighboring tables. These were highly confused by the turn of events. What was happening? Zuko asking his lover for advice on a girl? This was too absurd, even for them. So new theories were made and the most popular one was quickly established: Jet had been teaching Zuko how to kiss. Never mind the fact that Zuko asked for advice _after_ the kiss had happened…

* * *

PitA: Sigh, I love yaoi...so hot...

Ida: Disappear far away from me! (Turning to the people) The next chapter will be normal again.

PitA: Unless, of course, you all love it and demand more. Then Jet won't be able to get Zuko out of his head and be all jealous of Toph and...

Ida: Stop Spoiling! Please Review!


	8. The Winter Ball

PitA: I'm back! First off a piece of news. Sadly, Ida Cippo has dropped out of the story, so all responsiblity is now left to me. But don't worry I'll update just as regularly as always ;)

Oh and for all of you that worried, there will be no more yaoi in this story. Sad for me, good for you. (For those that wnated yaoi and didn't review, this is what you get!)

On with the story!

Disclaimer: blah blah blah I don't own blah blah blah

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The Winter Ball

"I," Katara slapped her folder down on the lunch table and slid into her seat, smiling smugly, „have a date. For the Winter Ball."

The other people at the table stared at her. Aang's mouth was open. He couldn't believe it.

"Who is it?" Suki asked eagerly.

"Haru," Katara blushed lightly. Suki looked confused for a moment, tilting her head from side to side. Then, it seemed, she had a brainwave.

"The dude with the beard!" She snapped her fingers and grinned at Katara, "So when did he ask you?"

Ever since he had grown a beard more an more people had been able to see Haru. Having a beard gave him sort of definition so he was now no longer invisible. He had become the-dude-with-the-beard. Going out with Katara was going to give him even more characterization making him into Katara's-boyfriend-with-the-beard. And when they split up he would be Katara's-ex-boyfriend-with-the-beard, thus ensuring he would remain forever visible.

Katara was explaining all the details of her encounter with Haru to Suki when Aang suddenly got up and walked across the field to the without a word. It was winter now, so the grass was all dead but on sunny days the students still sat outside.

Katara looked confused, "What's with him?"

Toph sighed but didn't answer, instead picking up another piece of tofu from her plate and eating it. Sometimes Katara just didn't get it.

At the table the Winter Ball was still the main subject.

"Do you think Jet will get Yue to come to the ball with him?" Suki asked hopefully, glancing up the table to where Sokka and Yue were sitting, chatting animatedly. The two weren't officially a couple…yet. Suki was still hoping.

"Nah," Toph said bluntly, "I heard that she flat out refused to go on a date with him. Took Jet a whole week to recover from that."

"I remember that," Katara said, thoughtfully, "He didn't flirt with anyone a whole week. Only sat there in a stupor with Zuko."

"Oh yeah," Suki looked disappointed, but then she turned to Toph, "You think Zuko will finally get the guts to ask you out?"

"Nope," Toph ate another piece of tofu, "We haven't really talked ever since I squashed Jet's MP3-Player under a rock. I think that put him off."

"Well, it was quite a violent reaction," Katara pointed out.

"Listen, sugar queen," Toph pointed her chopsticks at her, "I don't take kindly to having my ass slapped by a passing playboy, okay?"

"Well, who are you going to go with?" Suki intervened before Katara could answer, "It's part of the exam. You have to go with _someone_."

At the Academy, the teachers had thought of something particularly evil in order to get their students to come to and precipitate in the school dances. They were simply made part of the Etiquette examination. If you failed to come and failed to dance you failed the exam. Simple really.

Toph shrugged, "I'm not really fussed. If worst comes to worst, I'll just ask Zuko for a dance at the ball. He'll say yes."

Suddenly the bell rang and almost simultaneously all students rose from their seats and rushed to put away their plates and get to class on time.

It was Monday, so Etiquettes was on the schedule. The students poured into the dance hall and found themselves a place to sit while they waited for Headmaster Iroh to arrive.

Toph was scowling as she slid into her place. The stupid ball was all anyone was talking about. 'Who are going with?' 'What are you going to wear?' Even her parents had somehow been informed and now her mother had made an appointment with a seamstress in order to get her a _dress_.

Headmaster Iroh arrived, as usual, right when everyone had found a seat. He stood there, smiling at them all, "Hello, dear Students! I'm sure the upcoming Winter Ball has been foremost in your mind," he grinned broadly at them, "You shouldn't forget your other subjects however."

Everyone groaned at being reminded of the midterm exams that would be taking place next week.

"The ball will take place on Monday evening, a week from today," Iroh said, informing them of what they already knew so they wouldn't forget, "Formal clothing is required though you may wear traditional clothing from each of your nations. All of you are required to dance at least one waltz and one traditional dance from a nation of your choice."

Toph put her head in her hands and groaned. _Why_ did she have to go through with this? Bad enough that there were subjects other than earthbending taught at this school.

"Not only will you be assessed on your dancing," Iroh continued, "But also on your behavior. So boys, no throwing grapes at the girls and girls, no standing the corner giggling. Many of you are from old families or are important people in your nations, or you have the talent to become so, " Iroh looked at them gravely, "It is necessary for you to learn how to behave at such occasions as your behavoir will one day refelect on your country. Please keep this in mind."

Then they practiced the waltz again. Toph sat in her chair, waiting for someone to ask her. (Iroh had long since given up on forcing her to dance only with Zuko) It was irritaing, this rule that boys had to offer the girls a dance. Suddenly someone spoke right beside her and she nearly jumped a mile. Only one person could walk so lightly that she could hardley feel him.

"Twinkeltoes," she snapped at him, angry at him because she was angry at herself for being surprised, "What do you want?"

"Do you want to dance?" He ask, somewhat subdued. Katara's date it seemed, still layed heavily on him or he would have asked her to dance. That or…Toph cast around. Yup, there was Katara, dancing with the beard dude.

"Sure, I'll dance with you," Toph got up and followed Aang onto the dancefloor. Aang was an excellent dancer, he was so light on his feet. And with him she didn't feel like someone was towering over her like she did with Zuko.

They danced together for most of the lesson. She managed to make Aang laugh again and by the end of the lesson he was his usual cheerful self again. Toph was glad about that. When Aang wasn't happy there was something wrong with the world.

Toph left the building slowly, dragging her feet because she didn't want to go back to her parents. Not that she didn't love them but everything about them, their house, their behavoir, their love, suffocated her. Suddenly she felt the soft pitter-patter of running feet behind her and she smiled to herself.

"Hey Toph," Aang ran to catch up with her, "wait up, I have a question for you."

She turned to face him, eager eventhough it didn't matter which way she looked.

He was silent for a moment, thinking about how to best phrase this, "You're not going to the ball with anyone yet, are you?"

She shook her head, keen to her the next part eventhough she could already guess it.

"Will you go with me?"

She grinned, "Sure."

* * *

The day of the ball was finally here, eagerly anticipated as it had been. Toph had been brought to the school by her simpering parents. Imagine, their little girl, dancing together with the _Avatar_. Toph was scowling.

Aang was waiting for Toph at the door of the school, relieving her of her parents care, though not until they had taken several pictuers. What was the use of the pictures, Tophwondered, _she_ certainly wouldn't be able to look at them and remember.

Aang had abandoned his airbender clothes and was wearing a neat black suit, though no tie. Toph' dress was long and white, and her hair hand been released from it's usual bun and was set elaboratly and pinned with flowers.

"You look nice," Aang told her as he took her arm to steer her through the crowd.

Toph grimaced at the compliment and pulled her arm away, "I can walk by myself."

"I know," Aang smiled at her, "But it's normal procedure for the man to lead his lady and we _are_ being graded on this so…may I?" This time he offered his arm to her. She hesitated for a moment, then reculantly took it. Even if she didn't care about the grade she wouldn't ruin it for Aang. Besides, it would make her parents happy.

All around them couples were walking towards the school. Toph felt Aang breathe in deeply, as if bracing himself. A moment later she felt Katara and her date pass by close to them. She squeezed Aang's arm lightly and he turned his head and smiled.

The dance was taking place in the dancehall of the school, though the place had been pimped, so to speak. There were lights everywhere, and many tables, decorated with flowers. The teachers were waiting for the students, all dressed up as well. King Bumi appeared to be wearing a purple dress, his hair crowned with large pink feathers.

Toph and Aang setteled at a table somewhere on the left side of the hall and watched the other students arrive. There was Zuko with Mai, all dressed in black. Ty Lee and some hunk from the basketball team and Jet with a small, pretty Azula worshipper. Azula herself, dressed in long, red firenation garb. Suki, looking damp, was with some boy from Math class.

"Can we sit here?" someone asked suddenly. It was Sokka, with Yue on his arm. Safe then. Aang nodded.

The music started and Aang immideatly stood up to dance eventhough there was noone on the dancefloor yet. That didn't matter though, Toph thought as he spun her around, this was the best.

The dancefloor had filled up quite well by the time they took their first break. Toph was flushed and smiling brightly and Aang was grinning, "I'll get us something to drink!"

He was gone before Toph could say anything. Smiling she made her way back to their table. Sokka and Yue were dancing as well, and they seemed to be having fun eventhough Sokka wasn't the world's best dancer. Toph smothered a laugh as she sensed him stepping on Yue's foot.

She sat down at the table and waited for Aang when suddenly Katara appeared next to her, "Het Toph.

"Hey, sit down," Toph guestured at the chairs. She was too happy to be rude right now.

Katara sat down, "Where's Aang?"

"Getting drinks," Toph answered, "How's it going with Haru?'

"Great," Katara said enthusiastically, "He's really sweet. He brought me flowers and everything."

"Mm-hmm," Toph scanned the crowed, "I always thought flowers were a waste of money. They die so quickly." She shrugged, "So where is he now?"

"Men's room," Katara answered, "listen, would you mind if I borrowed Aang for a dance?"

Toph stared at her agahst, "Borrow Aang?"

"Well, Haru isn't really the world's most enthusiastic dancer," Katara said ruefully, "And Aang is so great so I thought maybe I could dance with him a little bit."

Toph bit back an angry reply. This girl, she didn't even realize what she was doing to Aang like this! "You'll have to ask him," Her voice was levelled.

"Thanks Toph," Katara smiled, "Oh there he is! Hey Aang," The young Avatar had arrived with punch for him and Toph, "listen would you dance with me? Haru doesn't really like dancing and…"

Aang hesitated for a moment but then he shook his head, "Sorry Katara, but I'm here with Toph."

"Oh," Katara was slightly dismayed, "That's okay. I'll just ask Sokka then."

And Toph took her drink, smiling to herself. Good for you twinkeltoes, she thought, good for you.

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So, what did you think?


	9. Quizzes and Presentations

Hello, hello. In this chapter: less romance, more humor! Oh and Sokka gets picked on.

Disclaimer: I don't own Avatar

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Quizzes and Presentations

The teachers planned this, Sokka thought as he grasped the poster to keep it from falling in the mud. He was sure of it. The sat together in the teachers room and planned in which three weeks of the year they would put all their quizzes and presentations.

He saved his poster from the mud but managed to drop his history folder. Ah well, he sighed as he picked it up again and gave it a shake, who really cared about history anyway?

The water tribe warrior got to math only a minute late, which must have been some kind of record. Master Bumi wasn't there yet so he let himself drop into his seat, a balancing act, and examined the damage done to his history "notes". Some of his drawings had been spoiled but none of the really great works of art, such as his drawing of Monk Gyatso being caught in the head by a pie, had suffered.

The door was pushed open and Master Bumi strode into the room. Sokka hastily pushed the folder into his bag where it made an odd squelching sound.

"Top of the morning to you, class!" Master Bumi called out to his students.

An indistinguishable mumble was the answer. It was too early and some of them hadn't had any coffee yet.

"What's with this lethargic attitude?" Master Bumi cackled at them, "I know something that will wake you all up!" There was a dangerous silence for a moment, then Master Bumi laughed insanely, "You haven't forgotten about our little Quizee-dee-Quiz-Quiz, have you?"

Sokka groaned and his head hit his desk. Between his Science and English presentation and the History quiz, he really had forgotten about Master Bumi's Quizee-dee-Quiz-Quiz. And who could blame him?

Besides, it was too early in the morning. No one should be forced to deal with Master Bumi (himself a morning person) this early in the morning. Master Bumi obviously didn't agree and forced them to write the quiz anyway.

. 'A cute little Quizee' read the title of the page that was given around. Sokka sighed, rummaged around for a pen and began to answer the first of the 68 questions.

It was not, Sokka decided when he handed in his paper and fled from the classroom, a good start to the day. Or the week. And his next lesson was, oh joy, art. At least he could sleep there.

He stumped into the room and settled down at a table near the back of the room, making himself a pillow out of his jacket. The teacher began to explain something about printing techniques and what-not as Sokka drifted off.

Master Pakku, however, did not take kindly to Sokka using his class in order to catch up on his sleep. In fact, he was positively angry about it. So angry that he woke Sokka with waterbending.

"Why is everyone picking on me?" Sokka yelled, now completely awake and drenched.

"I'm not picking on you," Master Pakku looked at him, his eyebrows furrowed, "I hate _all_ teenagers."

That got him a round of laughter. Sokka scowled. So did Master Pakku.

The next lesson in line was Science, something that Sokka could actually wake up to if Madam Wu didn't go into her one of her long-winded monologs on the interpretation of some fact. It was a fact for goodness sake! Leave it be.

Sadly she did, this time on the topic of immunizations and what people said about using them. Sokka began to drift of when he heard –

"-and then he took of my clothes and said _oh baby_…aha," Madam Wu looked at the whole class staring at her in rapt attention (not to mention that most were trying to rid themselves of mental images). "I knew that would get your attention!"

Sokka was banging his head on his desk again. Why, oh why was he cursed with such insane teachers? No students from other schools ever told him about there teachers doing things like this.

The rest of the lessons until English passed fairly uneventfully, except for them eating cake in history class while Monk Gyatso told them about what so-and-so had done then-and-then. But this didn't really count; they did this all the time. One of few times a teacher acted strange in a positive way.

But English…Sokka had been dreading this lesson. Here he would be holding his presentation on, what's-his-face…Gogol. Not something to be concerned about normally but he had not read the book (only the summary) and he was going to have to wing it.

"Who's on today?" Master Jong Jong thundered as he entered the room. Sokka shrunk in his seat, hoping that maybe, maybe there were several other presentations on that would take up the whole lesson.

When no one answered Master Jong Jong drew out his book and peered into it, "We have Master Jet," he looked up at the class, then back down into his book, "who appears to have gone on an early lunch break. And we have Master Sokka. Are you ready Sokka?"

It was a rhetorical question. If he wasn't ready he received zero points. This way he might be able to make something out of it. Sokka nodded and walked to the front of the class, dragging along the poster he had made last night (at the cost of his sleep) and had saved from the mud (at the cost of the folder). This had better be worth it.

"Hey," Sokka faced the class. Suki smiled encouragingly at him. Jong Jong did not.

And so Sokka began to orate. He talked quickly, gliding as much as possible over the subject of what was actually _in_ the book and instead grating out some basic things about class differences, the importance of marriages(in the book) and the author's life. By the time they reached the characters Sokka was on a roll, pounding out statements that sounded good but meant nothing. In the end he fended off a few easy questions and in the end felt that he had done quite well, maybe even quite good.

"Well," Jong Jong said, looking at Sokka, "I'm just brashly going to insinuate that you never once opened the book."

Sokka's jaw dropped, how did he know?

"However, you did pull off quite a good presentation," Jong Jong's brows furrowed, "What am I going to do here? Class?"

"I think he still deserves a good grade," one person spoke up, "I mean, it was a really good presentation that kept everyone listening."

"But isn't it slightly unfair towards the rest of us who actually read their books?" another person threw in, "no offense Sokka, but I think that should be taken into account."

"Very well," Jong Jong looked at Sokka, "I'll see what I do. For now please hang up your poster outside with the others."

When Sokka had left the room the teacher turned his eyes on his students again, "It really wouldn't be fair to give him a good grade, would it?"

"No" and "Yes" mingled in the classroom.

Jong Jong sighed, "At times like this I really dislike having to give grades. It was a really good presentation but it is just so like Sokka to not read his book and if I give him a good grade, he won't read anything in the future either so I think I'm going to-," at this moment the classroom door opened and Sokka entered the room. Jong Jong switched topics smoothly, "-the really interesting thing about Gogol that you have to remember is that…"

The effect was, however, slightly ruined by the class starting to break out into giggles.

In the end Sokka received a somewhat mediocre mark and faithfully promised he would read his book next time. Whether he would keep that promise remains to be seen.

* * *

You know what the scary thing about that chapter is? All of that stuff is based on things that happened to me at my school O.O. Anyway, please review!


	10. Looks and Insults

So yeah, the last chapter. Sorry, but I'm just not feeling this set of loosely connected drabbles anymore.Still, I hope you enjoy it.

Disclaimer: I don't own Avatar

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Looks and Insults

The end of the school year was nearing and tension was running high. Pressure was high, tempers were short and even best friends were in each others hair. And to top it of the area was hit by the first heat wave of the year making everyone even angrier because they had to stay in school (even though there was nothing more to learn) instead of being outside. The atmosphere was, in short, not-very-good.

Class was something only a few students bothered with anymore. As the heat increased brain activity sunk proportionally to it. What was the point, most of them reasoned with their consciousness; it wasn't that much longer till the end of the year. A couple of missing lessons couldn't possibly affect their grades _that_ much. Or so they thought.

"We shouldn't be doing this," Katara whispered as she ducked behind the wall with Toph.

"Relax," the smaller girl told her leaning against the same wall, "we won't get caught. I can sense anyone coming and we'll hide."

"It's not that," the Waterbender murmured, "we shouldn't be out of class in the first place."

Toph made an impatient huffing noise, "you can go back you know."

Katara looked at her, "don't give me that look."

"What look?" Toph was incredulous, "I'm blind, remember."

"You can still give looks," Katara hissed, "and right now you're giving me the you're-such-a-wuss-go-back-to-where-you-came-from-if-you're-scared-I'll-do-this-alone look. Stop."

"Yeah well you're being all I'm-miss-perfect-who-never-does-anything-fun," Toph retorted then her head snapped to the side and she appeared to be listening, "quick, someone's coming." Without a seconds hesitation she began hurrying down the corridor. Katara struggled with herself for a moment, then she followed her. Even if she went to class now she's never be able to explain why she was so late. What exactly had Toph said that had made skipping politics look like a good idea?

Even the best, most precious students of the Academy were not unmoved by the strong atmosphere in the school but the student who seemed to be affected the most was none other than Prince Zuko. Always on the short tempered side of the field it was now reaching a critical point. The whole world (or at least everyone in school) it seemed to him was battling to make him angry in some way. And most of the time they succeeded too, no thanks to Azula.

"God Zuko, you suck," she sneered at him (wearing a look that screamed nothing-you-do-will-ever-be-sucessful-bow-to-me-queen-of-the-world) after she had just beaten him in one of the 'friendly' sparring matches that now erupted so frequently in the hallways.

"Yeah, well, you swallow," the dark haired prince snapped back rudely before he could stop himself.

Azula stared at him opened mouthed for a moment one because of his crudeness and two because he had dared answer back to her. Then it hit her, "That make absolutely no sense. If you suck, you swallow."

Now the students standing around gaped at her as she turned and flaunted off (still wearing the look) leaving them to wonder at her incredible logic and why the hell she had followed up on the vulgarity.

Logic however, was not the preferred way of most students to counter their arguments. One prominent comeback was 'so is your face' used at every proper and improper occasion. Even the young Avatar and his philosophy of peacefulness were not safe from it.

"Aang your stance is off," Toph, who was helping him with his Earthbending, shouted, "don't slouch! You're like a rock, unmovable and steady!"

"I'm trying," Aang answered, screwing up his face in the I'm-doing-the-best-I-can-leave-me-alone-already look.

"You're acting like a marshmallow," Toph bellowed, "You're all soft and squishy!"

"Well so is your face!" it burst out of the young monk before he could stop himself and in truth he didn't really want to. Everything was getting on his nerves and right on top of the list was bending practice, school and the heat. These were not his days.

Finally the long awaited last day had arrived. A useless day in every way, except that it was here you received your grades. There was short assembly and afterwards the teachers handed out the papers of doom. Emotions were running high; there were shouts of joy, moans of despair, screams of anger and sighs of practiced acceptance, then everyone ran out of the building as fast as they could.

Somehow the new students of the year had found themselves together at the front of the building. Aang, Toph, Meng and the twins stood together and looked at the building they had grown so used to over the year. It was almost a moment of awe.

"Well," Toph stomped on the ground, breaking the spell, "that wasn't all that bad was it?"

"Yeah," Aang grinned, "and I'm glad it's over."

They all laughed, then the twins nodded to them. "Have a nice summer," said Mirok. "See you next year," Misant followed up.

They moved away and the group of five broke up. Yes, next year they would find themselves here again. There would be more horrors to face, greater challenges to overcome and new students to torture. But until then: summer time!

The End


End file.
